The streets of Phnom Penh are aglow. Neon and lasers flash across the sky, trees cascade down with multi-coloured lights, buildings, statues and shrines are bathed in illuminations that twinkle and flash. The Pearl of Asia, as the city was known during colonial times, has transcended its traumatic recent history and become a modern metropolis on the banks of the Mekong.

We have arrived at the end of a decade on New Year’s Eve 2019, ready for adventures in a new part of the world. However, whilst we have landed in Phnom Penh safe and sound, it turns out our bags didn’t make the connecting flight from Bangkok so we are wandering the humid streets in the sticky jeans and tops we left London wearing.

Our flight had proved a popular choice, with not only our friends Jon & Chris sitting by chance a couple of rows in front of us, but also Tom, one of the members of the band Don Broco, sitting a few rows back too. Whilst Jon and Chris are staying in Thailand, Tom is travelling further afield, connecting on to Ho Chi Minh City, with his girlfriend and her father.

However, delays leaving Heathrow meant we landed later than planned, so after an 11 hour flight we are hurried through Bangkok’s vast airport by concerned BA staff to make our connecting flight – sadly faster than our luggage it transpires. Checking into the White Mansion Boutique Hotel in Cambodia’s capital that afternoon, we head straight to bed to battle the waves of jetlag, and on waking a couple of hours later decide to head out for dinner, despite not yet having a change of clothes.

I’ve made a reservation at a well-reviewed Indian vegan restaurant but we have a bit of time to explore before then so walk through the bustling streets to the gleaming Independence Monument, standing proudly on a roundabout, taking our life in our hands to cross the roads as instructed; confidently walking out into the traffic which weaves and swirls around us, no hesitation allowed.

There’s an urban park that leads from the monument down towards the riverfront, where locals and tourists alike are gathered, taking photos of the pagoda that houses a statue of His Majesty Preah Bat Samdech Preah Nordom Sihanouk, who is lauded as ‘Heroic King, Father of Independence, Territorial Integrity and Unity of the Khmer Nation’. A little further along is a statue of Buddha looking very like Mahatma Gandhi and above the park towers a hotel casino with a huge LED edifice that transforms from rainbow lights to flashing cartoons to shooting stars to waving flags every few seconds.

We walk up the riverfront past bars and restaurants, noticing that the famous Foreign Correspondents Club (The FCC), where hard-drinking journalists reported on the trials and tribulations of Indochina for years, is now closed for some much-needed renovations. However plenty of other drinking establishments are crowded with travellers and Cambodian youths, pouring booze down their throats with New Year’s Eve gusto.

We find our cute little restaurant, called Masala Dosa Street Kitchen, down a back street and have a lovely dinner, washed down with Angkor beer before walking back to our hotel. On the way we pass brightly lit palaces and meander through another park thronged with masses of families having picnics amongst candy floss and popcorn stalls, taking in a deafening New Year’s Eve concert with lasers and what we can only assume are Cambodia’s top pop stars, accompanied by some distinctly half-assed dancers.

By now it’s almost 10pm and we’re shattered. Thankfully our bags are now awaiting us at the hotel and once we’ve unpacked we crawl back into bed, falling asleep to the sound of explosions in the sky, welcoming in 2020. What adventures lie ahead…